Indorsement - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition indorsement

Definition :

Indorsement [fr. in, Lat., upon, and dorsum, a back], anything written or printed upon the back of a deed or writing. The requisites of a valid indorsement of a bill of exchange, promissory note, or cheque, are laid down by the (English) Bills of Exchange Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 61), s. 32, the principal requisites being that the indorsement must be written on the bill itself (except in the case of an 'allonge' or 'copy' in a country where 'copies' are recognized) and signed by the indorser, his simple signature, without additional words, being sufficient; that it be an indorsement of the entire bill [though indorsement of a blank form may be valid, Glenie v. Tucker, (1908) 1 KB 263]; and that where there are two or more indorsements, each is deemed to have been made in the order in which it appears on the bill, cheque, or note, until the contrary is proved. As to the recovery of the amount of the cheque by the drawer, after payment obtained by a forged indorsement, see North and South Wales Bank v. Macbeth, 1908 AC 137. See also DEED; MORTGAGE; RECEIPT.

When the maker or holder of a negotiable instrument signs the same, otherwise than as such maker, for the purpose of negotiation, on the back or face thereof or on a ship of paper annexed thereto, or so signs for the same purpose a stamped paper intended to be completed as a negotiable instrument, he is said to indorse the same, and is called the 'indorser'. [Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (26 of 1881), s. 15]

Indorsement, means (1) the placing of a signature, sometimes with an additional notation, on the back of a negotiable instrument to transfer or guarantee the instrument or to acknowledge payment. (2) The signature or notation itself. Also spelled endorse-ment, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 778.